THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
Photograph by Ewing Galloway
AMERICA BUYS BOATLOADS OF CANARY BIRDS FROM GERMANY EACH YEAR
Three men are carrying stacks of tiny wooden cages, in which the birds are shipped from
the Harz Mountains.
"Birdmen" attend the canaries on the voyage from Bremen to New
York, one man to every 2,500 songsters.
herents of one society exchange blows,
and sometimes shots, with those of an
other antagonistic faction. The leaders
are mostly former officers, ardent milita
rists all.
But among the rank and file, militarism,
in the old Prussian sense, appears to be
on the wane. Athletics beyond a doubt
are more popular than target practice in
the Germany of to-day.
Generally speaking, the youths who dot
the German playing fields include the
great majority of those formerly doing
military service.
They also comprise,
however, millions more-boys below mili
tary age. Only a fraction of them are in
school or college. The majority are hold
ing down jobs and devoting only their
spare time to sports, particularly Sundays
and holidays.
Among the 700,000 present-day young
Germans whom the Kaiser would have
drafted into his army, only the sons of the
well-to-do are not earning their own liv
ing or trying to. Some are emigrating,
notably to South America, Mexico, and
Canada, as well as to the United States,
of course. Those that stay home must be
absorbed by industry and commerce or
join the army of unemployed.
FARM LIFE NO LONGER APPEALS TO
GERMAN LABOR
There is virtually no movement toward
the land in Germany. Agricultural labor
is so badly paid that the farm worker's
only ambition is to escape to the city.
Crops on the great estates in East Prussia
are harvested only with the aid of many
thousand Poles, who cross the frontier in
the summer months and return home in
the fall.
The small landowners and peasants can
produce only enough to feed and clothe
their own families. Younger sons gen
erally drift to the industrial centers.
Germany's girls are hard on the heels
of their male contemporaries in most
forms of mental and physical endeavor.
In those specially suited to their sex they
are fast drawing abreast of the men. In
the pursuit of higher education they are
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